


Ride

by melodyrider



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Blood, F/M, Horseback Riding, Horses, I'll clean these up later, Partial Nudity, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-17
Updated: 2016-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-27 07:30:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6275296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melodyrider/pseuds/melodyrider
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>OH HIATUS</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

You grunted loudly when your body slammed into the ground again. Dammit, this was… what, 42 times now? 43? To be completely honest, your guess was as good as anyone else’s; you stopped keeping track after your 20th fall, and it was starting to get ridiculous. You pushed yourself up off the sand dirt mixture that made up the ground of the outdoor riding arena next to the stables. You briefly brushed yourself off, though it was fairly pointless by now; at this point, your white uniform pants were so stained with dirt that you would most likely need your grumpy boyfriend’s expertise and assistance for any hopes of getting them clean ever again.   
  
Not only were you covered in a thick layer of dirt and dust, but there were also tiny bits of blood that could be seen on your pants and dark grey polo shirt, and you thanked the Walls it that it had short sleeves. Nothing too serious; all scrapes mostly from your knees, elbows, or hands you acquired from your falls, though they stung nonetheless. You had long since abandoned your uniform jacket on the rail near the arena’s gate, unable to withstand it in the summer day’s blistering heat any longer.   
  
Even though it was beginning to approach sunset, when everything was bathed in a pale golden light and the sky was just starting to change color, the heat was unbearable. Even after you had taken your jacket off, your entire body was still slick with sweat, and dust clung to the perspiration on your red face. To put it plainly, you looked like chaos.  
  
You trudged to the rail where your dear friend, Chloe, was waiting for you with some water she had retrieved for you while your ass was being thrown to the ground over and over. You grabbed at the cool liquid and eagerly gulped down half of it before pouring the rest of it over your head, sighing in relief and no longer giving a single solitary fuck about your appearance anymore. You were still thirsty, but sacrificing some of your drink to pour it over yourself was totally worth it. You handed the now empty bottle to your brunette savior.  
  
“Thanks,” you said, smiling wearily. She smiled brightly in return.  
  
“No problem! Any progress?” she asked, peeking around you into the arena. You glanced over your shoulder at the source of your troubles.  
  
The chestnut gelding stood in the middle of the arena, looking around casually as if he hadn’t been spending the entirety of his day throwing you off of him. He hadn’t broken a single sweat today, while you looked like you had just completed a marathon.  
  
“No,” you grumbled, turning to mount yet again when Chloe reached out and grabbed your arm, making you stop and face her.  
  
“Don’t you think you should take a break? You’ve been out here for a solid five hours, and you look like you’re about to pass out.” That’s what you felt like, too, not that you would say anything about it. On a particularly bad fall while Chloe was gone, your head had slammed into the ground, and hard. You had probably given yourself a concussion, but being the stubborn person you were, you just brushed it off and kept going, and now it was taking its toll. Your head pounded while dizziness and lightheadedness clashed, making you want to just lie down and die. You sighed and pulled away.  
  
“Give me a few more tries, then I’ll take a break,” you said, continuing to the gelding. He pinned his ears back when you were a yard away from him, but from what you had seen, as long as you weren’t actually on him, he wouldn’t do more than glare at you. Apparently, you were wrong.  
  
When you reached out to take hold of the reins he snapped his teeth at you with the intent to bite you, and was quite successful. His teeth sunk into your right forearm, immediately breaking the skin and damn near crushing the bone. You yelped in a combination of surprise and immense pain and yanked your arm away, jumping back. You gripped the wrist of your now injured arm so tightly your knuckles turned white, and you grit your teeth to keep from screaming. Blood started leaking from the bite almost instantly and dripped down your hand and onto the ground. You backed towards the rail towards an immensely worried Chloe who didn’t hesitate to open the gate for you and close it once you were out.  
  
“(F/n)! Are you okay?!” she gasped, running to your side.   
  
“Oh yeah, I just like bleeding for the fun of it,” you said, sarcasm dripping heavily from your voice. She decided to ignore it.  
  
“You should go get that cleaned up,” she urged you. You were going to argue when the ever-present throbbing in your forearm intensified greatly, making you wince.  
  
“Okay, okay. I’ll go get this checked out. But then I’m coming right back!” you warned, making Chloe laugh a little.  
  
“Oh, I know you will. Now go, before that thing gets infected, moron. I'll wait here.” You sent her a halfhearted glare before finally trudging back to HQ.  
  
Once you were inside, you breathed a sigh of sweet relief. It was still warm from the summer heat, but nowhere near as bad as it was outside. You tried to keep the amount of blood that dripped onto the floor to a minimum, knowing Levi would flip sideways if he saw you made a mess.  
  
You passed the occasional person while walking down the corridors who sent you worried looks but said nothing, and you reached the familiar destination with relative ease. You pushed open the wooden door that led to the infirmary. A young nurse with wavy light brown hair along with forest green eyes stood off to the side of the room looking over a clipboard, looking up when she heard you close the door, not even batting an eyelid at your appearance that made it look like you wrestled a bear and instead focused her eyes on your forearm. She set the clipboard on a counter and approached you.  
  
“What happened?” she asked. You let her pull you to one of the beds and sit you down.  
  
“Accident with a horse…” you muttered. She nodded and turned to get a couple supplies from the other room when you stopped her. “Can you please not tell Levi about this? He’ll lose his shit if he finds out I got hurt again.” She smiled and nodded again. You had become remotely familiar with this nurse as she was usually the one who treated your (usually minor, though quite frequent) injuries you received while working in the stables and with the horses. She knew you didn’t want to worry Levi by telling him you had gotten hurt though, so she agreed to not inform him of your frequent visits to the infirmary, which you were very thankful for.  
  
“Sure thing. Might as well change your other bandages, too. I’ll be right back,” she promised before disappearing into the next room. You carefully pulled off your shirt, trying to avoid making contact with your injury and only partially succeeding. Once you had pulled it off, you checked your torso and cursed under your breath; it was worse than you thought. Your body had been aching, yeah, but you didn’t expect yourself to be completely covered in dark bruises, ranging from a light purple to an ugly blackish color. The once neat and clean bandages wrapped around your stomach were now dirty and mangled, while a light red blotch was very visible on the bandages where your older, but still recent injury had been. You froze your inspection when you heard the door open, and your blood ran cold when you saw who walked in.  
  
When Levi’s eyes landed on you, he stopped dead in his tracks, and you couldn’t move as his eyes scanned over your form. Slowly, you could see simultaneous concern and anger trickle into his eyes and he started walking towards you. You whimpered when he roughly grabbed onto your hurt arm, and that seemed to snap him out of his initial reaction. He loosened his hold and raised your arm to inspect it, eyes narrowing. Without looking at you, he spoke.  
  
“What happened.” It wasn’t a question; it was an order for you to answer.  
  
“N-nothing-” you tried to say, but he wouldn’t be having that.  
  
“Don’t give me any of that bullshit. I’ll ask you again: What. Happened.” You hesitated to speak, and Levi just clicked his tongue and pulled you to your feet. He took your shirt and handed it to you, a silent command to put it on, which you quickly obeyed; you didn’t want to make him angrier at you. Once you had pulled it on, struggling slightly with your arm, he grasped the wrist of your uninjured arm, pulled you to your feet, and began dragging you across the room, towards the door. At that moment, the nurse came back.  
  
“Where are you-” she began to ask, but Levi cut her off.  
  
“I’ll be treating her injuries,” he said, not stopping or looking at her. You looked to her pleadingly, but she only held out her hands towards Levi, showing there was nothing she could do. You huffed silently and allowed him to pull you out of the room while you stumbled over your own feet as your head spun and your vision seemed to double, the effects of your most likely concussion becoming much more prominent after being roughly pulled up. He continued pulling you all the way into his office, and into the connected bedroom.  
  
“Strip,” he growled, not realizing what the statement sounded like. Your cheeks, already red from the heat outside, darkened with a blush at the order.  
  
“L-Levi?” you squeaked. Levi stared at you until realization slammed into him and he looked away.  
  
“Not… like that, brat. I want to see your injuries,” he clarified.  
  
“Just my torso, or the injuries on my legs, too?” you asked, making his gaze snap to you. Oh yeah, he didn’t know about that. _Oops…_  
  
“You hurt your legs too?” he growled. You gulped silently, afraid to answer, making him sigh. “Fuck it. Just take off your shirt and pants. It’s not like I haven’t seen it before.” He had a point there. You reluctantly discarded the clothes, leaving you feeling bare as Levi observed your body, not becoming any happier at the marks littering your skin. After a minute of silently taking them in while you awkwardly stared at the floor, he nudged you towards the bathroom attached to the bedroom.   
  
You complied, walking into the room with Levi close behind. He turned on the hot water in the sink, though not so hot that it would be painful, and grabbed a small towel before he gently took hold of your injured arm and pulled it under the stream of water. You grit your teeth again, trying to ignore the pain shooting through your nerves until the majority of blood and grime had been rinsed off. He dried your arm with the towel, and pulled you back into his bedroom and sat you on his bed before momentarily returning to the bathroom. He came back with some alcohol and sat next to you, taking hold of your arm again.  
  
“Just letting you know, this’ll sting…” he muttered in concentration, dampening some of the towel with the alcohol. He pressed it onto the wound, and you couldn’t hold back your hiss of pain any longer as your face twisted up and you squeezed your eyes shut. It took all your willpower to not yank your arm away, because you knew he was just trying to help you. The ordeal was over after what seemed like minutes, and you exhaled a breath you didn’t realize you had been holding.   
  
Levi went back to the bathroom once more, though he had left the towel and alcohol by your side, and returned with a roll of bandages and another small towel, this one being completely dampened with water. Wordlessly, he wrapped your arm tightly, focused entirely on his work. Once he finished he tied it off and inspecting it, giving a curt nod of approval before stepping back.  
  
“Take the wrap off,” he instructed, gesturing to the bandages covering your stomach. Your cheeks grew redder at the thought of your upper half being mostly exposed to him, and you had to remind yourself again that it wasn’t anything new to him.   
  
You carefully reached behind yourself and untucked the dirty bandages, unwrapping them from around your form. It felt nice when the warm air hit the skin that was covered throughout your work today, and the skin that was under the wrap was far cleaner than the rest of you, having been shielded from the dirt and dust. However, you shivered when the air hit the wound on your torso. You heard Levi curse quietly under his breath.  
  
The gash on your stomach wasn’t as bad as it was yesterday when you got it, but being kicked by a horse in the stomach isn’t exactly something that heals overnight. Making it worse, the sharp hoof had left a nasty cut, along with a deep purple bruise forming around the site of the blow. Levi took the damp towel and gently pressed it against the cut on your stomach, and you sucked in a sharp breath when it throbbed terribly. He continued gently dabbing, trying to not be too rough. It hurt Levi just to look at it; he could hardly imagine how it must have felt for you. Once he was satisfied that it was clean, he took a few minutes to clean some of your other minor scrapes, then moved his eerily calm gaze to your eyes.  
  
“(F/n), this is the last time I’m asking you what happened,” he warned you, and you moved your gaze to his boots, finding them easier to look at than his eyes.  
  
“I got kicked…” you mumbled, partially with the hopes that the Corporal wouldn’t hear you, but those hopes were shattered when he grabbed your shoulders roughly and forced you to face him. His eyes were set in a classic Levi glare while traces of anger flickered behind them.  
  
“God dammit (F/n), how many times have I told you to be careful?!” he hissed, making you shrink away. Levi rarely raised his voice at you, and when he did, it scared you. He would calmly scold you for your actions often, but not yell.  
  
“A lot…” you muttered, shamefaced. Levi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to calm himself down.  
  
“What am I going to do with you, you brat?” he mumbled, mostly to himself. You kept your eyes down. You hated upsetting Levi, and you did it so often, despite trying so hard not to.  
  
“I’m sorry, Levi,” you almost whispered, trying to hide the water welling up in your eyes. Levi, being the perceptive bastard he was, noticed and sighed again before pulling you to him in an embrace.  
  
“Look, I’m not mad at you. I’m mad that you keep letting yourself get hurt,” he murmured in your ear. “You’re being too damn reckless with your own safety, and you’re gonna get seriously hurt one of these days.” He pulled back a little to look you directly in the eyes. “Listen to me, (F/n). I know that you love working in the stables with the horses more than anything, but your well-being is far more important. I’m going to give you one more shot to prove that I can rely on you to take care of yourself while you're there. If you get hurt again, I’ll be forced to take matters into my own hands. Okay?”   
  
You moved your gaze away while you thought. It’s not like he was really giving you any options here, so you had no choice but to comply, but you didn’t want to. You had been working with horses for as long as you could remember, as your family had the privilege of owning the ranch that bred and supplied horses for the Survey Corps. Horses were always a part of you, and you were gifted with them; you didn’t want that part of your life to change. Slowly, you nodded your head. “Good,” Levi said, moving to grab the bandages again. “Damn, (F/n), how do you manage this shit?” he asked upon leaning down and closely inspecting your stomach injury again. You gave a tiny chuckle.  
  
“By being the stupid brat that you love,” you replied, lightly kissing the top of his head. A small smirk found its way to his lips and he tilted his head up, planting a small peck on your lips before returning to treating your injury. After a couple minutes, he had the wound wrapped again neatly in soft, clean bandages, and had disposed of the old ones. He returned to your side and studied the bruises littering your body, almost cringing as he lightly brushed his fingertips over a couple.  
  
“Do they hurt?” he asked, applying slight pressure, just barely enough to bring a light throbbing.  
  
“A little sore, but nothing bad. I’ll live,” you casually responded. Finally, Levi pulled away.  
  
“Not much I can do for those; they’ll just have to heal on their own,” he stated, almost apologetically. You nodded understandingly and grabbed your shirt, pulling it over your head again before you pulled your uniform pants back on. Levi took notice of something.  
  
“Where’s your jacket?” he asked. You perked up, remembering you left it outside by the arena.  
  
“Ah, I took it off outside and forgot it before I came back in,” you admitted sheepishly as Levi gave you a quizzical look.  
  
“Why did you take it off in the first place?” he inquired before leaning closer towards your ear. “You know, I could _punish_ you for being out of uniform,” he whispered huskily, making you shiver. He had done nothing to help rid you of your blush today, and he certainly wasn’t starting now.  
  
“L-Levi!” you whined, playfully slapping his arm while heat spread on your face like wildfire, making him smirk.  
  
“But seriously, why did you take off your jacket?” he repeated, with genuine curiosity this time while you stared at him like he had gone mad.  
  
“Have you been outside today? You try getting thrown off a horse out there God knows how many times while wearing your jacket without getting hot,” you said. Levi narrowed his eyes at you suspiciously before striding to the window of his room, curious. He opened it to test your theory, and his eyes widened as he quickly closed it once he saw what you were talking about. He whipped around to face you, serious once again.  
  
“And you’ve been out there since this morning?” he asked. You furrowed your eyebrows but simply nodded your head. Levi approached you again. “You’re done today.” You cocked your head to the side.  
  
“Huh?”  
  
“You’ve done enough today. Dammit (F/n), you’re always pushing yourself too hard; I’m sure that horse is exhausted, too.” You were going to say how he actually hadn’t broken a single sweat, but kept your mouth shut and let him speak. “I think you’ve more than fulfilled your duties today. You’re excused to do as you wish until dinner.” He paused to think for a moment. “Actually, scratch that. I want you to put that horse away then get your sorry ass back here where I can keep an eye on you, or I know that you’ll just keep working.” Damn… he knew you too well sometimes. You smiled and nodded nonetheless, standing up.  
  
“Understood; I’ll be right back,” you sang, walking out of Levi’s room, trying to not stumble for fear of worrying Levi any more than you already had. Try as you might, however, you couldn’t keep yourself completely steady, and no matter how hard you tried to hide it, Levi didn’t miss it.  
  
You went back outside to the arena, where Chloe was sitting on the rail facing the horse while swinging her legs and humming out of boredom, though she had stayed true to her word and waited for you. You cleared your throat to gain her attention.  
  
“Sorry dude, Levi said I had to stop,” you said. Chloe spun around and hopped off the rail.  
  
“I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. Seriously, you need to stop overworking yourself. You’re-” you cut her off by waving your hands.  
  
“Okay, okay! Levi already chewed me out for it, I don’t need another lecture!" Chloe laughed.   
  
“Yeah yeah yeah, let’s just throw this guy back in his stall and I’ll let you go. I can untack him on my own." You gave a brief nod and jumped over the rail, not even bothering to open the gate to get in. Unbeknownst to you, Levi had a clear view of the arena from his office window as it was on the second floor of the castle, and he was watching you. He let out a small “tch” at your casualness at which you hopped the rail, and the fearlessness you demonstrated when you approached the gelding. It was one of the things he simultaneously loved and hated about you, after all; since practically nothing scared you, you were brave, but it could also make you reckless.  
  
As you approached the gelding, he pinned his ears and moved away from you, and you stopped, waiting for him to calm down. Once he seemed to be okay, you began approaching again; this time much slower, while drawling out a calming low “whoa…” You were close now, you just needed to take hold of the reins-  
  
Faster than you could process, he spun around and threw a kick in your direction. You gasped lightly while your eyes widened, and you barely saw the hoof coming toward you before it made contact with your temple, instantly knocking you out cold. Your legs gave out, and you crumpled to the ground.  
  
Levi felt his heart nearly stop, and Chloe wasn’t feeling much different from him, though she snapped out of it much quicker than he did. She quickly jumped the rail and grabbed the gelding’s reins, dragging him away from you. She let him go to the other end of the arena and quickly returned to your side, desperately trying not to panic as she tried to decide on a course of action to take.  
  
Levi finally snapped out of his momentary horror and bolted out of his room, using all of his willpower to not sprint down the hall. He took far longer than he would have liked to get outside, but he knew very well that he needed to keep a level head; panicking would only make the situation worse.  
  
He followed your lead and jumped the rail, striding quickly towards you as you lay on the ground, completely still and unmoving. Chloe heard the footsteps approaching and whipped around.  
  
“C-Corporal!” she said, sounding relieved and desperate at the same time. Levi kneeled beside you, turning your head slightly. His heart dropped at the small amount of blood trickling down from your temple; he had seen enough of your injuries for one day, the last thing he wanted was another. A dark bruise had already formed where you had been kicked, and he cursed under his breath.  
  
“Pryor,” he said, looking back at the gelding after gaining Chloe’s attention.  
  
“Sir?” she asked, ready to obey.  
  
“Don’t take on this one on your own; clearly he’ll need more work than the average horse, and we don’t need any more injuries today. Just wait, and I’ll send some assistance to put him away,” he ordered.  
  
“Understood, Sir,” Chloe said, before looking worriedly to your unmoving form. “Sir, i-is she going to be okay?” she asked, her voice slightly wavering. The idea of something bad happening to her best friend scared her, no matter how much the two of you tormented each other on a daily basis. Levi glanced at her for a second.  
  
“I think she’ll be fine,” he responded coolly. “But we need to get her some medical attention, and quickly. Meet me in the infirmary once the horse is taken care of,” he ordered. She nodded, and Levi rolled you over so you were lying on your back. He put his arms under your legs and around your back and picked you up, shifting you so he had a good grip on you. Chloe rushed ahead and opened the gate for him to exit and followed behind him, closing the gate behind her. Levi continued on to the infirmary, walking as quickly as he could without breaking into a run. He glanced down at you.  
  
“See what you do to me? Troublesome brat…”  
  
***  
  
You didn’t open your eyes right away when you woke up. You kept them closed while trying to not die from the horrible pounding in your head. You groaned painfully as you finally forced your eyes open, instantly regretting the decision when they were met with a nearly blinding light, and you screwed them shut again. You reluctantly cracked them open by the tiniest amount, allowing them to adjust before gradually opening your eyes more. Once they had become adapted to the light, you glanced around the room. It looked like you were in… the infirmary?  
  
You became aware of a light pressure on your hand and looked to your side, eyes widening when you saw Levi sitting in a wooden chair at your side, hunched over and resting his head on one arm while the other was occupied with holding your hand.  
  
 _How long has he been here?_ you thought, slight guilt gnawing at the back of your mind as it was obvious he had been here for quite a while, waiting for you to wake up judging by the dark circles under his eyes and his skin being slightly more pale than usual. You squeezed his hand, not disliking the contact, but you didn’t intend to wake him up. Regardless of your intentions, his eyes gently fluttered open, staring at the bed sheets for a moment before he sat up and arched his back inwards, cracking his spine which felt good after being bent over for so long.   
  
However, he didn’t remove his hand from your grasp as he did so. You watched him stretch and let out a tiny sigh, before his eyes moved to your face. The two of you stared at each other for several moments, but before you could say anything, he all but tackled you into a tight embrace, squeezing you tightly against him and practically choking you.  
  
“Levi! Can’t breathe!” you gasped. Levi loosened his hold enough for you to breathe but didn’t let go of you, still clutching you to his chest. Finally, after a few tense, wordless seconds, he pulled back and clutched your shoulders tightly, making you face him. There were angry flames dancing in his eyes as he glared into your (e/c) orbs.  
  
“What did I say?” he snapped. “What the hell did I fucking tell you?!”  
  
“Levi, I-”  
  
“No,” he quickly cut you off. “I want you to remind me what I told you. What did I say would happen if you let yourself get hurt again?”  
  
“Y-you said that you would take matters into your own hands,” you stammered. “But Levi, I-”  
  
“No, (F/n). No buts. I gave you a warning, and you didn’t even wait 5 minutes to disregard it, so now I’ll have to deal with matters myself.” He let go of your shoulders and stood up, glaring down at you coldly. “Until you are fully healed and I give you the okay, you’re forbidden from going anywhere near those stables or any of the horses unless I say otherwise. And I’m not asking you this as your boyfriend, I’m ordering it as your superior.” Your heart sunk, and your face fell.  
  
“Levi, you’re not serious, are you?” you asked, praying that he would change his mind.  
  
“Have you ever known me to joke?” he responded, lowering your spirits further.  
  
“Don’t you think-”  
  
“(F/n), we’re done talking about this. Do you have any idea how fucking worried you had me?!” You said nothing. “You were unconscious for four days, and according to the medics, you had received a concussion even before you were kicked in the head. You had a concussion and you didn’t say anything?! Not only that, you were completely dehydrated! How dense are you?! That kick could have killed you!” Tears began to prick the corners of your eyes, both at Levi’s aggression towards you and the way he chose to take this into his own hands. Levi clicked his tongue and whirled around, storming to the door.  
  
“You’re obviously too careless to take care of yourself, so it looks like I’ll need to do it for you. For that, I’ll repeat myself one more time: you are not to go anywhere near the stables or any of the horses unless I say otherwise _and_ you are fully healed. And that is an order,” he snarled, not even stopping to look back at you.  
  
“Levi, please!” You desperately pleaded, and your voice cracked. You couldn’t keep the tears from streaming down your face, and before he left the room, Levi glanced back at you one last time. He felt his armor crack, the wall he had worked so hard to build up so that he wouldn’t give into your inevitable protests to the decision he had come to that he thought would be best for you. Seeing you look so broken, so desperate, so pleading, made him nearly give in. However, he steeled himself, and wordlessly closed the door behind him as he left you alone in the room.


	2. Chapter 2

It’s been two weeks, and you were starting to lose your mind. 

You had been confined to the infirmary since your little accident, sentenced to rest and lots of it. However, some intense begging (and making the doctors worry that you would worsen your condition by doing that alone while you should have been resting) made you convince them to release you a little earlier than they had initially planned, though you were temporarily dismissed from all chores, duties, and training. Normally, this would make you want to sing sweet hallelujah, but under the circumstances (the circumstances being Levi temporarily banning you from the stables), you would rather repeatedly slam your head into a wall than sit around doing nothing (which you did, and quickly regretted because you had effectively worsened your concussion, but you still considered it better than sitting around doing sweet FA). 

More than that, you had been giving Levi the cold shoulder. Not completely ignoring him and pretending he didn’t exist, oh no; that would have been far too kind. Your main tactics were refusing to acknowledge him in bed, back facing him as you went to sleep, and depriving him of cuddling. Yes, you were willing to go that far. 

Currently, you were sitting on the ground outside leaning against the trunk of a tree and relishing in the shade it provided from the summer heat at the moment, practically green with envy as your eyes flickered between the training grounds where hand-to-hand combat and 3DMG training was taking place, and the stables where you could see a few cadets hauling tack. 

“Probably going riding, lucky bastards…” you grumbled bitterly, a scowl apparent on your features. Your glare intensified after a minute when a few of the horses were led outside and mounted. Finally unable to stand it anymore, you stood and stormed back inside HQ, stomping down the halls with a clear aura of “come within 10 feet of me and I’ll rip off your head and shit down your throat” radiating off your very being as your feet carried you somewhere subconsciously. You didn’t know where you were going, but decided to ignore the actual destination while focusing on not killing anyone on your way there. You barely stopped to look at the wooden door before throwing it open and slamming it shut behind you as you stormed inside. 

Levi nearly jumped at the sudden loud bang that shattered the peaceful silence he had been working in and looked up from the papers on his desk to see you, fists tightly clenched and face flushed red in anger. 

“Where’s a pillow?” you practically demanded, your harsh tone surprising Levi. He gestured to the couch on the side of his office that held one pillow at each end. You flopped down onto it, buried your face in one of the fluffy cushions, and screamed into it at the top of your lungs. It was one long shriek that left you panting for breath afterwards, but it helped release some of the energy and frustration that had been balling up inside you for the past two weeks, though not enough to leave you fully satisfied. 

“Did that make you feel better?” Levi asked monotonously, resuming his work that you had rather rudely interrupted. 

“Hardly," you said into the pillow, slightly muffling your voice. There was a moment of silence before you heard a chair creak and footsteps approach, and the couch dipped slightly, signaling Levi had sat himself next to your miserable form. However, your previous frustration quickly changed to confusion and mild curiosity when he began shifting the both of you around until your head rested on his lap and those feelings quickly faded to pleasure when he started scratching your head like you were a cat. You let out a content sigh and closed your eyes, shuffling closer to him. Nothing was said for a good while until he broke the silence. 

“Say something, dumbass. It’s awkward for me to comfort you,” he chided. You grunted in response, remembering that you were supposed to be angry at him. He flicked your forehead. “I said talk to me, idiot. You’re honestly not still upset about the stable thing, are you?” You grunted again and moved your head to look at him. “Wait, is that what all this is about?” His expression was one of either slight shock or amazement, you couldn't tell. You gave the tiniest of nods and his face got stern. “Listen, (F/n). I issued that order so that you don’t get injured again. You're healing and should still be in the infirmary, never mind working. I'm not going to apologize for wanting you to be in good health, and I'm not changing my mind about waiting for you to get better before you go back to work," he said, his voice firm and telling you that there wouldn't be any changing his mind. You huffed through your nose in defeat when suddenly, a light bulb went off in your head. 

"Alright, fair enough," you said, standing up from the couch. You saw Levi quirk a questioning eyebrow at you before turning on your heel and striding to the door and back out into the hall. 

All you had to do was make it past dinner; simple enough. 

The rest of the day had passed without incident. You let Levi know that you'd be sleeping in your own dorm tonight and he hadn't questioned you about it, though you could see that he had wanted to. 

You made sure to get to your dorm before any of your roommates did and snuck under the covers of your bed, still in your day clothes. Now all you had to do was wait. 

You lay in your bed, feigning sleep for a good hour past curfew. After you were sure that none of your roommates were still awake, you silently moved out from under the blanket on your bed. Your boots were already on and you were in a polo shirt along with your uniform pants. You crept your way to the door, careful to not make the floor creak, and left the room, gently closing the door behind you. You snuck through the halls until you came to a closet from which you quickly grabbed a lantern. Once you had it lit, you closed the closet and continued on your trek through the eerily silent halls of HQ. When you reached the doors you had been searching for, you let the tiniest smile grace your lips as you pushed them open. 

The warm, thick summer night air rushed past you and into the building. You were quick to close the doors behind you and continued walking. The moon was blocked by dark clouds, but the night was fairly light. You probably could have made your way without the lantern, now that you thought about it, but there was nothing to do about that now. Besides, it would help you to see inside your destination. You heard a low rumble in the sky and felt a few droplets of water hit your skin. You inhaled deeply; you could smell a storm coming. It would do the land some good after the dry period that had lasted several weeks prior to tonight. 

Your strides were long and fast as you focused on your destination once more. It had just now begun to sink in what you were doing. 

Was what you were doing reckless, insubordinate, selfish, and dangerous? Of course. 

Were you going to do it anyway? Hell yeah. 

With that thought you had arrived at your destination. You set your lantern on the ground and grabbed the handle on one of the heavy doors to the stable, straining your muscles to pull it open. It slowly creaked ajar, and you grabbed your light source once more and stepped inside. Your boots clicked on the stone floor as you walked down the aisle. You saw shadows moving inside the stalls as the horses stirred from your sudden presence, but paid it no mind. You knew where you were going. 

Nearing the end of the aisle, you turned to the last stall on the left. You peered inside, and two chocolate brown eyes peered back, making a grin appear on your lips. Your horse nickered loudly, thrilled by your presence, as she pawed at the ground repeatedly. You hung the lantern on one of the hooks on her stall and traded it for her bridle. You briefly paused to debate retrieving a saddle but decided against it before continuing, opening the stall door and going in. 

“Hey pretty girl,” you cooed. Your chestnut mare, Blossom, had a thin white stripe running down the middle of her face, accompanied by a long tail and short mane. She sniffed you and nuzzled your shoulder, practically shoving you. You scratched her neck lightly, and she nickered in delight. You smiled and turned so you faced the same direction as her. You pulled the bridle up and she took the bit easily, as she always did. You secured the headstall and threw the reins over her head before taking them and leading her out of her stall. You quickly put out the lantern, leaving it hanging on her stall as you left. You heard a light pattering on the roof begin, but ignored it. Blossom had effortlessly dealt with titans before; rain and lightning were like nothing to her. 

You lead her outside and stroked her neck before jumping and hauling yourself onto her back with some difficulty. Blossom shifted slightly, but other than that, didn’t move. She waited patiently until you were comfortably adjusted atop her back. Water droplets began hitting your skin at a faster rate. You turned Blossom towards the forest used for 3DMG training and pushed her forward, but kept her at a walk for the moment. As soon as you were hidden in the trees, you squeezed your legs tighter and made a kissing sound. Blossom’s ears swiveled back to listen to you before she took off from a walk into a hand gallop. 

Rain and wind whipped against your face as Blossom picked up speed. She grew excited and threw a few bucks, almost causing you to fall due to the lack of a saddle. You set a hand on her withers to keep your balance and tugged on of the reins to tell her to stop, and she focused on speed once more. The forest lit up in a silver light for a split second as lightning flashed in the sky; a deafening crack of thunder burst through the air moments later. 

You and Blossom barely noticed it. 

You urged her faster, determined to savor your horse’s speed for as long as you could until you had to leave again. 

Rhythmic hoof beats pounded on the clear dirt path you followed to assure that you wouldn’t crash into any trees. The rain intensified and began pouring down harder, transforming from a mild drizzle to heavy sheets in seconds. Blossom tossed her head and whinnied, running even faster. You leaned forward like a jockey, enjoying the final stretch before you had to turn back. You had gotten here faster than you would have liked, but the speed at which you arrived was nothing for you to complain about. 

You burst through the trees into a clearing and finally pulled back on the reins, slowing Blossom. Both you and Blossom were soaked, but she didn’t seem to mind; she appeared as satisfied as ever. You decided to let her walk for a minute before you returned. You turned her around to face where you had just come from and began walking, but gasped and stopped Blossom, heart stopping at what you saw. 

*** 

Levi’s tired eyes scanned over the words on one of the documents before him regarding something-or-other. The room’s only light source was from a candle set on Levi’s desk, the flame flickering gently every few seconds. The only sound that filled the room was the scratching of his quill on paper when it was needed. Eventually, he glanced up and then at the clock on his wall before deciding he deserved a break. He set the quill back in the ink jar and stood from his chair, stretching his arms over his head. He reveled in both hearing and feeling his now stiff joints pop and crack into place. A small, satisfied sigh passed his lips and he turned around, facing the window behind him. He simply stared into the darkness of the night, losing himself in his thoughts. It was the light patter of rain against the window and the quiet rumble of thunder that brought him back to Earth. The next thing to capture his attention was the soft glow of a lantern down on the ground. 

Levi’s eyes immediately focused on the moving source of light, and he put the pieces together quickly. There was only one possible destination in that direction, and only one person who would dare to break curfew and direct orders to go there. 

“No. Fucking. Way…” he breathed, feeling his blood begin to boil. Swiftly grabbing his uniform cloak and throwing it on, he left his room, not bothering to bring any kind of light. He knew HQ far too well anyway. He strode through the halls, throwing the hood of his cloak over his head just before finally getting outside. Rain began pouring down on him the moment he stepped out of the building and wind whipped against him. Squinting against the weather, he made his way to the stables just in time to see a shadowed figure that could only be you atop a horse riding into the forest. 

“(F/N)!” he bellowed at the exact moment that lightning struck and thunder roared, drowning him out. Levi grit his teeth and took shelter inside the stable. He scowled and stormed down the aisle to his horse’s stall, grabbing the bridle off the hook and storming into the stall, making his horse peer at him curiously. Levi quickly slipped the bridle on and lead the blue roan gelding out of the stall and into the rain. He mounted and took off almost before he was properly seated in the direction you had gone. 

“Come on,” he muttered. “Let’s go get my idiot.” 

*** 

Levi was upon his horse and directly in front of you, just as drenched from the rain as you. He was staring at you, his steel blue eyes tearing into your soul. Your mouth hung open, unable to form words. He walked his horse forward and turned so he was directly next to you and facing the same direction you were. He had turned his head to look at you, his expression unreadable. He stared at you for a few seconds before whipping off his cloak and leaning over, wrapping it around your shoulders and pulling the hood over your head. 

“You’re going to get sick,” he mumbled. His voice betrayed as little emotion as his face. Without hesitating, he took the reins out of your hand and pulled them over Blossom’s head, keeping them in his hand while he had his own in the other. He spurred his horse forward and Blossom followed. Pushing them both into a steady canter, he kept the pace while you focused on keeping your balance. In minutes, you had returned to the stables. You both dismounted and you followed Levi as he lead the horses into the stables. He seemed to have no problem finding his way in the dark and in no time deposited both horses back into their stalls and had their bridles back on their hooks. He spun on his heel and grabbed your wrist in a tight grip, dragging you behind him and back out into the rain. You stumbled after him, nearly tripping multiple times in the slippery mud. Eventually, you came to HQ, and Levi all but threw the door open before dragging you in and nearly slamming it behind you. 

His grip on your wrist didn’t loosen until he had pulled you into his office and locked the door. Finally, he released you and whipped around to silently stare at you. You stared right back, taking in his soaked hair and clothes; he looked like a bucket of water had been poured on him, just to prevent you getting sick from your own stupid actions. You opened your mouth to speak; what you were going to say, you weren’t sure. Maybe to try and justify what you did, but his hand shot up, silencing you instantly. 

“Not. One. Word,” he said coldly. You shuddered not-so-subtly at the cold tone of his voice. His eyes narrowed and he pulled the hood back off of your head. Your soaked hair tumbled out from under the hood and your big (e/c) eyes stared back at him, wide and unblinking. Levi closed his eyes momentarily and silently exhaled. He opened his eyes again and carefully put his hands on your shoulders. His eyes burned into yours.

“What, in the name of Maria, Rose, and Sina… were you thinking?” he practically whispered. Without giving you a chance to answer, he continued, voice growing louder. “What could have possessed you to do such a thing?” 

“I-” 

“I gave you an order, didn’t I?” he cut you off. You didn’t respond, and his voice was quick to rise to a yell. “Didn’t I?!” You shrunk back. 

“Yeah!” you squeaked. 

“So answer the fucking question!” he roared. “You’re injured. It’s raining. It’s the middle of the night. What the hell were you trying to accomplish by doing something so… so senseless?!” 

“I don’t know, I’m sorry!” you yelled back. He stepped back and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“You are sorry, aren’t you? You always say you’re sorry, and you know what? I believe it. I think that you truly are sorry. But then you go ahead and pull some stupid shit again. Every. Single. Time. No matter what, you either forget or completely disregard how sorry you are and do it again.” He looked at you, a new raging fire in his eyes. “What’s it gonna take to get you to remember?!” 

“I don’t know!” You stared at him with fear, taking in his appearance for the first time since you had gotten back. His clothes and hair were soaked because he had given you his cloak. Water droplets still lingered on his face. Guilt stabbed you in the heart at the fact that he had chosen to go after you. What had you been trying to accomplish? A mere few minutes of riding, putting both you and Blossom and now even Levi at risk? “I’m sorry!” you rapidly apologized. “I was being selfish and stupid, and I acted on impulse instead of thinking about the consequences of my actions!” 

Levi seemed to pause; you could see the gears turning in his head. “What else?” You tried to think of more to say, but apparently you didn’t do it quick enough, for he spoke again. “Tell me what you did wrong.” That you could do. 

“I went against your orders and broke curfew to go riding,” you said, hanging your head slightly in shame. 

“Now tell me why you did it.” 

“You weren’t letting me go do anything with the horses for two weeks,” you mumbled, looking away and frowning. “I’ve never gone that long without being around horses before and it was making me lose my mind, so I didn’t know how to handle it.” Levi stared at you for a few seconds before stepping forward and reaching a hand towards you. You flinched away and closed your eyes as if he were going to hit you, but you were instead brought into a warm embrace. He buried his face deeply into your neck. 

“Don’t… don’t do this to me, (F/n),” he whispered against your skin. “Don’t worry me like that again.” You wrapped your arms around your boyfriend in return, holding him just as close. 

“I’m sorry,” you said again. 

“I know.” 

“I really am,” you insisted. 

“I know... (F/n), I want you to listen to me for a second. Just don’t talk for the next minute, okay?” Levi mumbled against your neck. You nodded in response. “I get that you’re smart. I get that you’re sensible, to some vague extent.” You scowled at him for that, but said nothing. “I also get that you’re strong enough to handle a lot. But you’re not invincible. You’re capable of getting hurt, as you’ve already proven, and I don’t... I don't want you to be getting hurt when it’s preventable. If you’re upset over something, I expect you to come talk to me about it, not go do something stupid behind my back. I placed the rules that I did to keep you safe. Understand?” You nodded and Levi pulled away.

He took hold of your wrist and began pulling you towards his bedroom. After changing into his sleeping attire and lending you a shirt to sleep in for the night, he pulled back the covers of his bed and dragged you in with him before covering the two of you again and holding you close to him. 

"And (F/n)?"

"Yeah?" 

"One month of bathroom duty once you heal for disobeying orders." 

*** 

It's been more or less a month and a half since the riding incidents. You had healed from your initial injuries soon after your little "midnight ride" as Levi liked to call it and had finished carrying out your punishment a few days ago. By now, you were back to working in the stables, though it had taken a bit longer to convince Levi to let you get back to riding. After much debate, he had agreed to let you, but you had to ride with a helmet until you went two weeks without incident. Fair enough. 

As of right now, you were riding, and struggling against Blossom's odd determination to change her lead every stride. Your arms and legs felt like they were on fire, but after much struggle, you got her to canter like a relatively normal horse for a few laps and rewarded her (and yourself) with a walking break. 

"(F/n)!" you heard a voice that most likely belonged to Chloe call you over. You peered over your shoulder and confirmed your previous assumption. Chloe was leaning on the arena rail, waving something white at you. You trotted up and stopped at the rail, leaning forward in a two-point position, now seeing that the object was an envelope. 

"Whatcha got there?" you inquired, cocking your head to the side. 

"I was sent to give you this. You've got mail from Mitras, apparently." 

"Mitras, huh?" you mumbled absentmindedly as you were handed the envelope and sat back up. You tore it open and removed its contents; simply a letter, though the handwriting was extremely neat. 

Your eyes scanned over the contents of the letter addressed directly to you, a ghost of a smile playing on your lips; you had a very good idea who sent this letter. When you read the name of the sender at the bottom of the page, you couldn't keep from smiling widely. You folded the letter and shoved it into your pocket, making a mental note to read over it again later. 

"What's with that look on your face?" Chloe asked, wary of your wide grin. You grinning was never good news. Ever. 

"...Nothing," you said, turning back into the arena to continue riding. "Just an old friend saying hi."


End file.
